


Fallout

by BINthere



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance, War, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 19:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2439545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BINthere/pseuds/BINthere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taravel of House Girithlin and Lothíriel of Dol Amroth were sent to Minas Tirith for protection before the Ring War began. Now the war is over. But with war brewing in Harad and Taravel's increasingly complex feelings for a certain Ranger; who she later finds out is the King, life is hardly free of the danger that she thought the war's ending would bring.<br/>Also posted on fanfiction.net under the username see through you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fallout

     I had managed to hide from my brothers by ducking into the stables and I chose a stall at random and stepped inside. I huddled in a corner right next to the stall door to avoid being seen and hoped that no one would notice me. It was a rare thing for my three brothers to work together on anything but apparently stealing all of their clothes and replacing them with garish dresses did the trick. I was simply paying them back for what they had done to my books a few days ago. I could hear them shouting indistinctly as they rushed past the stables, and their voices faded until I could no longer hear them. I grinned to myself despite knowing I had only delayed the inevitable and picked out a few pieces of hay that had managed to get stuck in my dark hair. Before I straightened up and brushed the dirt off my dress.

     Then I noticed the horse. A large brown one looking at me with wise eyes that seemed to understand exactly what I was doing. Sheepishly I smiled and thanked my lucky stars that the horse had not reacted negatively to my presence. I regarded the horse before me somewhat ruefully.

"Let's keep this between us, though I don't suppose you could tell anyone anyway. You can't exactly talk but you seem intelligent enough." I mused while offering my hand to introduce myself.

"That he is, lady." A quiet voice behind me spoke.

     I whirled around in surprise to see a man with shoulder length wavy brown hair and grey-blue eyes looking at me with a raised eyebrow. He was quite handsome, I noticed somewhat distractedly.

"Ah, sorry, he's your horse then." I said while gesturing behind me. "I'm fleeing from my brothers; I just hid in the first stall I saw."

"You wouldn't by chance happen to be Taravel?"

"I am, how do you know my name?"

"I believe I passed by your brothers; they were shouting your name, amongst other things."

"Yes, that must have been them. They are quite angry with me right now." I answered, shaking my head.

I started to explain. “They would not even have seen me but I couldn't resist going back to see my handy work. They had managed to convince a servant to loan them some clothes while they went looking for theirs, or me, whichever they found first. Unfortunately they caught sight of me and started to chase me. I barely escaped." I said seriously.

"You stole their clothes," he repeated, a smile creeping up on his face.

"Yes, and replaced them with the most hideous dresses I could find. I'm not completely heartless though; I left them with a couple clues to find their clothes. Apparently they decided it would be easier to find me and make me show them where they are." I tilted my head to the side.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, you know my name but I don't know yours."

He hesitated a slightly before replying "Strider."

My forehead wrinkled a little. “Strider, I have never heard of anybody being called Strider before." Then I looked at his clothing and noticed the dark leathers, all in a style I had seen before.

"Oh, you're a Dúnadain Ranger then, that makes sense." I stepped forward and undid the bolt on the stall door and slipped outside so I was standing beside him.

"It was nice meeting you Strider, but I really should go before my brothers come looking for me here. They know that this is where I have my horse stabled.” I began to walk away before I paused.

"He is a very steady horse, that one. Didn't make a peep when I came bursting into his stall."

"Yes, he is. Brego has been battle trained. You are lucky he simply ignored you." His expression turned more serious.

"You should be more careful. Another horse could very well have responded badly to your presence."

"I will. I usually don't make it a habit to hide in a strange horse's stall. Well, it's off to Lothíriel's rooms for me. They wouldn't dare barge in on her," I stated cheerfully. "Ah, if my brothers come looking for me…"

"I won't say where you have gone."

"Thank you!" I dashed off to Lothíriel's rooms, hoping I could make it without being spotted by one of my brothers. Still, I was distracted by thoughts of the Ranger called Strider.

"Settle down girl," I muttered to myself. "No use fantasizing about him." With that stern reprimand. I knocked lightly on Lothiriel's door before letting myself in quietly and tiptoeing to her private sitting room. Her maid Rian, upon seeing me shook her head slightly before pointing to an end table with a breakfast tray ready for me. Happily I sat down and began to eat.

"I knew you would be coming round once I heard the uproar that your brothers are in. You cannot hide in here forever Taravel," she warned. "I expect the mistress will be up within the hour."

"Thank you Rian, I appreciate this." She just shook her head and mumbled something under her breath.

     I belong to house Girithlin which pledges loyalty to the Princes of Dol Amroth. My parents had been visiting Dol Amroth to escort my uncle, who was to become a swan knight, and my mother refused to miss it despite her condition. I was born there, three weeks earlier than expected. Lothíriel had been born only two days before; and thus began the tradition of my family summering at Dol Amroth. Lothíriel and I were the only girls in our families and quickly became close friends. We were inseparable during those summers and often wrote letters back and forth to each other when we were apart. We were sixteen when we convinced our parents that I should stay year round. My father was easy to convince. He was eager to gain favor with the prince of Dol Amroth and agreed. My mother had taken a little more convincing but she too eventually agreed.

     I had grown up with Lothíriel, and as such her family's staff was used to my antics. They had given up long ago of me becoming a "real lady", but I knew enough to behave myself at court and not embarrass my family. I had grown up wild with my uncle encouraging me to learn how to ride, and he had drilled me in the basics of sword play and archery as well. Though of course there was no way that I would ever be allowed to participate in battle, and I was fine with that. I had worked in the healing halls alongside Lothíriel and had seen the horrors of the aftermath of battle. Even a month after The Battle of Pelennor Fields we still had soldiers recovering.

     Finished with my breakfast, I considered whether or not it was worth my life to wake Lothíriel up early. I decided that it was, for I needed to talk to her about several things, and it was past sunrise. I tiptoed towards the door of her bedroom and crept inside before jumping up on top of her and rolling over her screaming at the top of my lungs, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" She did wake up and as expected was not happy at all and let me know quite vocally. Twenty minutes later she was still sulking and giving me death glares while she ate her own breakfast. I hummed to myself happily ignoring her. I could wait to speak to her until she was fully awake and coherent. She soon finished and her tray was taken away.

"Now Tara, what was so bloody important that you had to wake me up early to tell me?"

"It's hardly early the sun is shining, and the birds are singing--" I cut myself off as her glare intensified. I knew how far I could push her before her temper snapped.

"Well, our plan was successful. Though I did have to hide in the stables because they saw me."

"You went back and looked? Tara, I told you it was a bad idea."

"They didn't catch me." I said with an airy wave of my hand. "And that is the important thing."

"You didn't wake me up just to tell me that." She stated calmly.

"Well, no. I had a run in with a man named Strider…" After I had finished telling her everything, three times (she liked being sure of things), she leaned back slightly and watched my face closely.

"You are attracted to him."

"A little," I admitted. "But I'm probably never going to see him again, so it is pointless."

"You don't know that. Many of the Dúnadain are staying for the coronation of the king. Perhaps you'll run into him again," she argued.

"Perhaps. But there is no use dwelling on what may be. Come, let's get dressed so we can explore. I'm sure Amrothos would be willing to go with us if we asked nicely."

"You're not worried about your brothers finding you?"

"Like they would do anything with Amrothos right there; besides I have to face them eventually."

"Rian," Lothi called out. She entered carrying a dress slung over her arm.

"I took the liberty of getting one of your dresses for you Taravel."

"Thank you again, Rian."

"You are welcome. Now if I were you I would hurry out, I hear your brothers are heading this way looking for you." With the ease of long practice I got dressed quickly and was ready to leave several minutes before Lothíriel.

"I'll meet you at the stables, you convince your brother to escort us." She nodded in the affirmative and I went on my merry way. I walked at a much more sedate pace than I had earlier and my hair was actually fixed properly. I wanted to check on Flash. I hadn't been able to ride her to Minas Tirith because she had taken lame right before we were sent to the city for safety. The Corsairs attacks on the coastline were troubling and Prince Imrahil reasoned that we would be safer farther inland. Flash had healed, and my brothers had brought her with them.

     Humming quietly to myself I strode back to the stables. Flash was in the middle, along with the other horses from Dol Amroth. I unlatched the stall door; and Flash's ears perked at the sound. She nickered in greeting. I inspected her and it did appear that she had recovered completely. I patted her neck soothingly.

"I missed you girl, looks like they're taking care of you, hmm." Her sand colored coat practically shone. "Sorry, I don't have a treat for you. I was in a rush this morning." I spent a few moments thing talking quietly to her while my fingers absentmindedly braided, unraveled and then re-braided the same section of her mane. With a final pat, I exited her stall and strode over to the stable doors to wait for Lothíriel and Amrothos.

     I had no doubts that she would indeed succeed in convincing her brother to be our escort. She could be very persuasive. After so many years I had built up a tolerance to it, so it was a rare thing when she managed to convince me to do something that I did not want to do.

     I was on the lookout for them but still didn't see them, I leaned against the wood after making sure that I was in nobody's way. I was scanning the people coming in and out of the stables, there was much more traffic now that the sun had been up for a while. The nobles of Minas Tirith were finally waking up. Still humming I rested more of my weight against the wall.

"Back again?"

I jumped a little. "How did you do that?"

"I am a Ranger. We're trained to move silently."

"I suppose. Yes, I'm waiting for Lothíriel and her brother Amrothos. We're going to explore the city. I really didn't have time to do that when I first arrived here, and then I've been busy in the houses of healing. I'd say I'm a little overdue for some exploring, wouldn't you?"

"Not worried about your brothers finding you?"

"Nope, they're too busy looking for their clothes by finally following the clues I left them. They've given up looking for me. Serves them right for messing with my books. Books are sacred." I added that last part very seriously. While I was talking I hadn't noticed that he had been stepping closer to me. One hand was holding Brego's reigns while the other was by his side. I realized that he had angled his horse so that we were blocked from the view of the casual passerby.

"You enjoy your ride?"

He seemed amused at my abrupt change of subject. "Yes. It was nice to clear my head."

"I understand. I love the city and being surrounded by people but sometimes you just need to be alone."

"So," I began casually. "Are you staying for the King's coronation?"

Something passed across his face, but it happened so quickly I wasn't sure what it was.

"I am. You said you worked at the houses of healing; did you not see the future king there?"

"No, I was working in a different part where the Rohirrim were being treated. I heard about it but I was too busy to go see. We were in the middle of doing several amputations and they needed another pair of hands to help with the bleeding. I've visited them a few times since, it has been difficult for them to adjust. They are such a proud people and to be told that they may never ride again..." I trailed off shaking my head. "It was heartbreaking to watch."

His gaze had softened somewhat. "I can understand that."

I pushed off the stable wall to stand up straight. "I need to watch for Lothíriel and Amrothos. I really don't want her anymore irritated at me than she already is. Her temper can be a fearsome thing." I said with a smile.

"Then I will not keep you from them. Goodbye Lady Taravel."

"Goodbye Strider." With a final nod in my direction he walked into the stables. Once again my line of sight was clear. I could hear Lothíriel arguing with her brother, about who knows what, as they approached the stables. I went to meet them.

"Ready for the tour Tara?" She asked briskly.

"Of course, let's go." And with minimal grumbling from Amrothos, we departed.


End file.
